They said no one had been allowed off the plane due to ‘Customs regulations’ and the staff had “no food to offer to passengers”.
Eventually, it was able to return to Wellington and landed at 4.30pm.
A Golden Bay Air flight in and out of Wellington has been cancelled due to weather.
Furthermore, both Air New Zealand and Jetstar have each cancelled a flight in and out of Wellington (both originating in Auckland) due to the winds.
Air New Zealand said 23 flights on Saturday were cancelled due to weather.
Earlier, a Jetstar flight from Gold Coast landed at the Wellington Airport on their second attempt.
Just after midday, MetService recorded the wind at Wellington Airport blowing 113km/h.
Yesterday, an Emirates A380 had two attempts at coming in to land after circling Christchurch for an hour.
Videos on social media showed the giant aircraft being buffeted in the winds as it came in to land on Saturday afternoon, and it was forced to pull out and try again. A large crowd of onlookers watched as the plane’s wings tipped and swayed in the high winds.
Emergency crews also had their work cut out for them yesterday, responding to lifting roofs, fallen trees and power lines coming down as severe wind gusts of up to 200km/h hammered Canterbury.
In the central city, a tree had come down on a car, Canterbury Fire and Emergency posted to Facebook early yesterday afternoon.
“Our crews have been responding to a surge in 111 calls to assist the public as a result of the severe wind event happening.
“As at 1.45pm, there were more than 25 responses under way all across the district, including power lines down, fallen trees, lifting roofs and to a tree [which had] fallen on to a car in central Christchurch.”
Police were told a tree had fallen on a car on Harper Ave at 1.26pm and some of the road was blocked, with Christchurch City Council staff on their way, but police didn’t need to attend, a spokeswoman said.
A gust of 204km/h was recorded at Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula before 1pm on Saturday, MetService tweeted.
There had also been gusts of 200km/h at Mt Hutt’s 2069-metre summit, 155km/h in Lyttleton, 126km/h at New Brighton Pier and 100km/h at Christchurch Airport. Mt Cook Aero recorded a gust of 115km/h before 1pm.
Orange strong wind warnings remain in place for the Tararua District and Wairarapa and north of Carterton until 2am on Monday, and for Wellington and Wairarapa south of Carterton until 8pm tonight.
In the South Island, Marlborough and the Canterbury High Country are also under strong wind warnings until 9pm tonight.
In all these areas, severe northwesterly gales may reach 120km/h in exposed places. Strong wind gusts could damage trees, power lines and unsecured structures.
Driving may also be hazardous, especially for high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.
